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Author Topic: US Lawmakers Target "Birth Tourists"  (Read 1610 times)

Offline THUNDERDUCK

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US Lawmakers Target "Birth Tourists"
« on: June 10, 2010, 03:35:20 PM »
NEW YORK ― Every year, thousands of pregnant Korean women arrive in the U.S. with a big, round belly and leave with a flat stomach, carrying in their arms a newborn baby with American citizenship.

Labeled "birth tourists," these moms consider the costly trips a privilege and money well spent. But for a growing number of Americans, they are ill-intended visits that take advantage of loopholes in the U.S. immigration system.

And now, with millions of foreign birth tourists coming from everywhere from Turkey to Taiwan with the same purpose, conservative lawmakers in the U.S. are pushing legislation that would stop automatically granting citizenship to every baby born on U.S. soil, as stated in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Republican Rep. Gary Miller has introduced a bill that would prevent children from becoming citizens at birth if they are born to illegal aliens, a move that many say challenges the fundamental tenet of the country's constitution.

His bill also specifically takes aim at birth tourists and the increasing numbers of businesses that help pregnant women give birth in the U.S.

Dozens of Korean businesses in major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Seattle, are also prominent in this industry.

For anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000, they offer a comprehensive service that covers airfare, city tours, pre- and post-partum care - including customized meals three times a day and general maid services - and even English lessons for the new mom.

Packages offered by Turkish businesses are also known to be high-end.

For about $40,000, women can stay at a luxury hotel on New York's Upper East Side with all their needs taken care of.

"They sell packages for women to come to the U.S., have their baby and then give all the necessary paperwork, babysit the child for a week or two so they can go on vacation then pack them up and send them home with an American citizen," Miller said in a recent television interview.

He called for a national debate on the issue, stressing that "more and more Americans are looking at this whole issue and saying, 'This is wrong and has to be stopped."'

In fact, a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports showed that 58 percent of 1,000 likely U.S. voters said "no" to giving citizenships to children of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, 33 percent still said a child born of a woman who enters the U.S. as an illegal alien and gives birth should automatically be a U.S. citizen.

According to the National Center of Health Statistics, the number of U.S. births to non-resident mothers increased 53 percent between 2000 and 2006.

Miller's bill is garnering support from select Republican lawmakers, but it drew immediate opposition from critics who say the move is threatening the nation's basic principles.

"The bill is unconstitutional," Democratic Rep. Joe Baca said in media interview. "If you were born in the United States, you're an American."

Other Democratic lawmakers and civic groups are ready to fight the case, while businesses are also voicing their opinions.

"We're not doing anything illegal," said a manager of one birth tourism package provider based in Los Angeles. "We're a registered business breaking no laws so we shouldn't be scrutinized."

Offline adventwriter

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Re: US Lawmakers Target "Birth Tourists"
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2010, 08:28:52 PM »
It's kinda funny.... in the past (especially the Cold War) America has used immigration numbers as propaganda that it is the greatest nation in the world....

US lawmakers are a joke now....they go after stuff like this - and not stuff that actually could help their constituents.

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Offline shurastriker

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Re: US Lawmakers Target "Birth Tourists"
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2010, 09:14:12 AM »
just reject them the visa or they don't need one? ... well i'm just thinking about legal "tourists" anyway

Offline Asmodai

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Re: US Lawmakers Target "Birth Tourists"
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2010, 05:26:20 PM »
Very few nations allow automatic citizenship just for being born within its borders. It's a law that hasn't made sense for 50 years, so it's probably well past time to update it to same standards as Germany, Japan, France, etc. which don't give automatic citizenship just because you were born there.

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